Estimation of pressuremeter modulus and limit pressure from Cone Penetration Test for desert sands

Pressuremeter Test (PMT) is comparatively expensive and takes more time to execute compared to Cone Penetration Test (CPT). Regression analysis is employed to generate formulas that can predict the limit pressure (PL) and the pressuremeter modulus (EP) from CPT. A total of 126 CPT-PMT pairs of desert dune sand soils were used to develop those formulas. Proposed formulas were verified using a separate data set that was not used in the analysis and were compared with previously published equations. The PL and EP resulting from the developed formulas show a good correlation with the measured ones. Additionally, measured settlements from a load test was compared with the estimated ones using the PMT method proposed by Menard (1975) utilizing PL and EP values calculated using the developed formulas. A good agreement between the predicted and measured settlements is presented in this research.